Churches eyed in bid to reach phone users in remote areas

By DAPHNE WANI
Mobile network operators will now work more closely with the PNG Council of Churches (PNGCC) to reach out to unregistered subscribers in remote areas.
Digicel Regional Pacific chief executive officer Oliver Coughlan said the extension of another two months of the new deadline would help the company engage 6000-plus employees dedicated to the SIM registration process.
Coughlan said two-thirds of its employees were in the rural areas and Digicel PNG understood the complications of how people there had to go out and register their SIMs.
“We will do everything in our power to register our customers, we will go to every corner of the country, we are texting people on a regular basis to encourage people to come and register their SIMs,” he said.
“We totally respect the guidelines but it is important that people understand that this is the date set for the deadline. We cannot plead on behalf of our customers to further extend the dates.
“There has to be a final date and to our customers we are committed to support each of them to register their SIMs.”
Coughlan said this yesterday after the requests were made by the PNGCC general-secretary Rev Roger Joseph for an extension of the registration deadline.
Joseph said despite its close working partnership with the National Information and Communication Technology Authority (NICTA), mobile network operators should start working closely with them to reach out to the mobile phone holders in the 22 provinces.
He said the PNGCC had been totally against some of the negative effects of the internet and while there were some advantages of this medium “we also stand with Nicta to fight against cybercrime and other related issues to the young generation”.